Behind Those Sheets Of White
by Capricious Cherry
Summary: Recently, Tenten has begun to feel differently about her teammate and sparring partner, Neji, but before she has a chance to fully grasp the meaning of her conflicting emotions, the Hyuuga genius finds love elsewhere. NejiTen - DISCONTINUED
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters, and am not making any profit off of this.**  
**

**Behind Those Sheets of White**

**A NejiTen Fanfiction**

**Prologue**

To her, it seemed as though the world was ending. The kunoichi pushed open the large, wooden doors, and inhaled deeply. Ignoring the protests and cries behind her, she ran out into the night, going from the warmth of the building into the frigid December air. She gritted her teeth as the rain battered her from head to toe, but she ran on, unflinching. Nothing could be worse than what she had just endured. Nothing.

----

_"Oh, Tenten-chan! It's great that you could come a bit earlier to help out with the preparations!" Ino Yamanaka grabbed the other girl's hand, and led her into the kitchen, where there were several chip bags and empty bowls. "Come on, we don't have much time. Hinata could be back anytime."_

_With a smile at her friend, Tenten tore open a chip bag, and dumped its contents into a bowl, as Ino was doing across from her. The kitchen smelled of fresh baking, and everywhere she looked, streamers had been put up, and there was a bag of balloons on the table._

_"So, have you heard?" Ino chattered excitedly, grabbing another bag. "Sasuke-kun's all mine now!"_

_Tenten blinked. She hadn't heard. "Why, did something happen to Sakura-chan?"_

_Ino grinned, a look of triumph written all over her face. "You could put it that way, I suppose. Yes, something happened, all right." She paused, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. "Neji Hyuuga happened."_

_Tenten froze, the chip bag half open in her hands, but Ino chattered on obliviously, glad to have someone else to share the news of her victory with._

_"Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun saw Neji and Sakura kissing at one of the training grounds yesterday!"_

----

Tenten could only hear the pounding of her feet and her heart as she ran on blindly, tears rolling silently down her cheeks and mingling with the rain. How could fate have been so cruel?

----

_Tenten uttered a soft gasp at Ino's words, and the blonde turned, sensing that something was off. "C-could you please repeat that, Ino?" the other girl asked softly, stumbling slightly on the first word._

_Ino grinned, glad that her words had created the desired effect. "I know, I was so shocked when I first heard it too. I mean, come on! Neji Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno. That's just so..." She shook her head with a laugh. "Oh well, now that Sakura-chan's out of the running..." A devious look formed on the Yamanaka's features as she poured out the last of the chips and headed over to the table. "Come on. We've got to get these balloons blown up."_

----

_"Neji, Truth or Dare?" Hinata's birthday party had been underway for two hours now, and, to Tenten, it felt like the longest two hours of her life. She knew that Lee was probably the only one who noticed that something was up; she had been avoiding Neji for the whole party. The sad thing was that the Hyuuga didn't even realize it, and it was obvious to the whole group present that Neji and Sakura were absolutely lovesick. Now, they had gotten into a game of Truth of Dare, and Ino had just asked Neji._

_"Dare."_

_Ino grinned, and shot Tenten a knowing look, before announcing the dare. "Neji, I dare you to ask Sakura out, right here, right now."_

_Tenten stiffened slightly, and listened for her teammate's response, hoping that he would chicken out of it, though it was unlikely._

_"I already did," Neji replied coolly, his white eyes watching Sakura, who shot him a brilliant smile. There was a collective gasp from the others, and Tenten rose shakily._

_"T-tenten-chan? A-are you a-alright?" Hinata asked softly. From the expressions of the others, she could tell that they were wondering the same thing._

_"I...think I left the kettle boiling back home," she lied, and bolted for the door, feeling a lurching feeling in her throat, and knew that if she didn't get out of there, she was going to burst into tears. "I'm really sorry, Hinata-chan." Without waiting for a reply, she burst outside, and ran._

----

Tenten stopped, breathing hard, and gave a small smile, at her surroundings. A training ground. Or, more specifically, the one that she and Neji trained at every morning. "Damn," she whispered softly. Why was life so unfair? There was a fluttering noise behind her, and, even before the birds flew past her, she knew that there were eight. Eight birds, mocking her in her misery, like everything else was. _But why?_ Tenten wondered, feeling the tears about to come again. _Why didn't he ever say anything about it? Neji wouldn't have just...kept quiet about something like this, I know he wouldn't!_ But yet he had. Shaking her head, Tenten leapt up into the trees, heading back to her apartment. She wasn't going to go back to the party, or more truthfully, she couldn't. She knew that she would burst into tears again when she saw the looks that passed between Sakura and Neji. But why did she even care? Why did something like this even matter to her? Bitter realization struck; deep down, she knew the truth. She had, somewhere along the road, developed feelings for her white-eyed teammate. As Tenten left the clearing, it remained eerily silent, and only a sound of sand falling, as if it were tricking through an hourglass, remained.

----

**Author's Note: **Well, it's my first, so please review, I'd like to see what you all think of it. Short, but there's more coming.


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, the characters, themes, etc.

**Behind Those Sheets of White**

**A NejiTen Fanfiction**

**Chapter One**

"Well, that should do it." It was early the next morning, and Tenten was watching her kettle boil over, creating a huge mess and burn marks on some parts of the floor and counter. Just in case anyone decided to visit and confirm her story from last night. With a weary sigh, she picked up a cloth, and, turning off the stove, began to mop up what she could of the mess, wondering if it had really been necessary.

----

"Sorry that I'm late, Neji, I…" Tenten ran into the training ground, expecting to see the Hyuuga genius waiting expectantly for her, like he did whenever she showed up late for their ritual morning training and sparring, but, to her surprise, the clearing was completely empty. She peered around, wondering if this was his twisted idea of a joke. "Neji-kun?" She frowned. It was unlike him to be late. _Perhaps he stayed up too late last night,_ she reasoned, but a part of her knew that it wasn't the reason, but she jumped up onto her usual tree branch, and decided to wait anyways. _He'll turn up. He always does._

----

"Tenten-chan!"

Tenten looked down from her tree branch, hoping to see Neji, with some valid excuse for being late, and she would accept it, and it would all be back to normal…

Lee ran into the clearing, clearly out of breath, and Tenten sagged slightly. It had been three hours, and still no Neji. She sighed, hopping down beside Lee, who was looking around, clearly confused.

"Where's Neji-kun?" he asked. Suddenly, it dawned on him. "He didn't show up?" The look on Tenten's face was enough of an answer, and Lee frowned. "How could he have just done this to our lovely blossom of youth? Just because he's fallen in love with Sakura-chan, doesn't mean that he can come and go as he pleases-"

"Lee," Tenten interrupted softly, "it's alright. I'm sure that he has his reasons. Don't worry, it'll all be fine." Seeing that Lee was about to protest, she gave him an encouraging smile, and walked in the direction of Team Gai's usual training spot. _Of course he's sad,_ Tenten thought with a sad smile. _I forgot that he had a crush on Sakura. I guess that I was too wrapped up with my own problems._

"Tenten! Let us see if we can get to the training ground in 25 seconds!" Lee had come up beside Tenten, and looked like his usual energetic self. "And, if we cannot, then we shall do 500 pushups when we get there! Are you ready? We shall do the youthf-"

"Lee," said Tenten, annoyed. "You can run all you like, but I'm saving my strength for when I actually get there."

Lee pouted for a moment, before nodding at his female teammate, and running off into the distance. "Springtime Dash of Youth!"

----

Tenten sat on the couch in her apartment, polishing her weapons. She had left training early that day, when Gai and Lee began to get 'overly youthful,' and had decided to come back to her apartment, for no reason in particular. She looked up, hearing a knock on her door. She placed down the kunai that she had been working on, and walked over to the door. "Oh, Hinata-chan!"

The Hyuuga heiress pushed her index fingers together nervously, and gave Tenten a small smile. "H-hello, Tenten-chan. I-i decided to come visit you, because I saw you through the window, and we finished training early today…"

Tenten smiled. "That's fine. Come in and have a seat, why don't you?" she asked, gesturing to the two chairs opposite her couch.

Hinata gave her a grateful smile, and sat down, eyes widening at the burn marks and stains. "Oh, my! We were wondering why you didn't come back last night. And that reminds me…" She dug in her pocket for a few moments, before pulling out a wallet. "You dropped this when you left last night," she said softly, offering it to the other kunoichi.

Tenten blinked, and took the wallet. "Arigato, Hinata-chan. I thought that I'd lost it, too."

Hinata nodded. "Also, I never got a chance to thank you for the bracelet that you got for me."

"Oh, that's fine…and, Hinata-chan?" Tenten hesitated for a moment, before deciding to ask the question that had been bothering her since this morning. "Have you seen Neji-kun anywhere today?"

The other girl gave Tenten a confused look, before shaking her head. "N-no. He left as usual this morning…didn't he go training with you?"

Tenten shook her head. "He didn't show up."

A look of surprise appeared on Hinata's face, but she quickly masked it with a nervous smile, and unconsciously began to push her index fingers together again. "Ahh…well, Neji-nii-san probably has a good reason for it, I mean, it's not something that he usually does, is it? And…" She stopped, realizing that she was babbling. "Oh…"

Tenten gave a reassuring smile, though she could tell that Hinata was as confused about Neji's disappearance as she was. "Neji is Neji, I suppose. He should be fine," she said, but deep down, she wasn't so sure. Before, she would have been completely confident in her support of her teammate, but now…she sighed. _Better not to worry about it, I suppose._

----

**Author's Note: **This one was short again…but I'll try to update more often to make up for it. I love reviews, hearing what you think of this…you know you want to. Also, thanks to all that reviewed for the first chapter, I appreciate it!


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